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An AP story picked up by many newspapers (here it is in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution) notes that conservative groups, particularly tea-party affiliated ones, are complaining because the IRS isn't granting 501(c)(4) status fast enough. "Intimidation," "Witch-hunt" cry the folks who haven't received IRS blessing for spending unlimited amounts of money on thinly-veiled political campaign ads. "We're doing nothing more than what the average citizen does in getting involved," said Phil Rapp, executive director of the Richmond Tea Party in Virginia. "We're not supporting candidates; we are supporting what we see as the issues." Yeah, right. See JRB's prior post here for more on the (c)(4) controversy, and in particular, where a lot of this money is going (and by the way, it's not just the conservative side that's playing this game). This is as much about "average citizens" as "To Kill a Mockingbird" is about birds.